Page:The Pamphleteer (Volume 8).djvu/94

90 On questioning them regarding the tenets of their religion, they replied that they believed in a dewa, who was all powerful; that the term by which the dewa was designated, was Bumi Truko Sangyang Dewoto Bator; and that the particulars of their worship were contained in the book called Panglawa, which they presented to me.

On being questioned regarding the adat against adultery, theft and other crimes, their reply was unanimous and ready; that crimes of the kind were unknown to them, and that consequently no punishment was fixed either by law or custom; that if a man did wrong the head of the village chid him for it, the reproach of which was always sufficient punishment for a man of Teng'gar. This account of their moral character is fully confirmed by the Regents of the districts under whose authority they are placed, and also by the Residents. They literally seem to be almost without crime. They are universally peaceable; interfere with no one; neither quarrel among themselves. It may be superfluous to add, that they are unacquainted with the vices of gaming and opium-smoking!

The aggregate population amounts to about twelve hundred souls. They occupy, without exception, the most beautiful, rich and romantic spots in Java. The thermometer, in their country, is frequently as low as 42°. The summits and slopes of the hills are covered with alpine firs, and the vegetation common to a European climate generally prevails.

Their language does not differ much from the Javanese of the present day, though more gutturally pronounced: in a comparison of about a hundred words of the vernacular Javanese, two only differed. They do not intermarry nor mix with the people of the low lands, priding themselves on their independence and purity in this respect.

—Passing from this last vestige of the Hindu worship now remaining in Java, (for the Bedui, though descendants of the fugitives of Pajajaran, scarcely merit notice in this respect,) I proceed to mention some of the leading observations which I made in Bali. The notices regarding the prevalence of Hinduism in Bali, and of the nature of the government and country, have hitherto been so scanty, that on such interesting ground I may be pardoned for entering into some detail, without which it is impossible to convey a just notion of the subject.

The island of Bali is at present divided under seven separate authorities, each independent of the other; and of this heptarchy, the state of Klongkong is acknowledged to be the most ancient; its princes tracing their descent from the princes of Java, and having once possessed authority over the whole island. Among the regalia of this state are reported to be still preserved the creese of